Another cog in the culture industry

August 24, 2015

H. P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" and Dark Adventure Radio Theatre

I've been an admirer of the good folks at The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society for a long time. Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, their series of radio-style adaptations of Lovecraft's stories, has been great fun, and so I'm always eager to hear the latest episode. But as the years have passed, I've wondered how much longer the HPLHS could continue to adapt Lovecraft in this fashion. After all, he wrote only so many stories of sufficient length to fill an entire CD.

Three days ago I was very excited to learn that a new episode of DART is now available for pre-order. I immediately purchased a copy of the CD with props (which, by the way, are always a hoot). Much to my surprise, though, my order included a free MP3 file. So I was able to download and listen to Dagon: War of Worlds as soon as I completed my PayPal transaction.

I had thought that the HPLHS, once they ran out of sufficiently long stories, could produce anthology episodes of DART. But what they've done this time around is much more compelling than that. They've taken HPL's "Dagon" (as well as aspects of "The Temple" and "The Whisperer in Darkness") and adapted it in the style of Orson Welles's "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.

I have to say that the HPLHS has really hit a homerun with this episode. The results are vastly more action-packed (lots of gunfire and explosions) than a typical episode of DART. You'll follow with rapt attention as Nathan Reed of Worldwide Wireless News covers the breaking news of a global attack on the surface world. It's really quite a ride that bodes well for the future of DART.

I just listened to DWOW a second time, and I'm so worn out from all of the thrills that I'd kill for a bottle of Bub-L-Pep.